A Journey to The Diamond in the Solent

Here I am, visiting this place for the fifth time. This island is so dear to me... as the first place I've visited with my dear housemates when I arrived in United Kingdom. The memory came back to me...

That Saturday, was a cold morning and the entire household already woke-up and excited with the journey we were going to take. A journey to Isle of Wight (IOW), a famous island with unique geography and weather condition situated not far from Southampton Port or Portsmouth Harbour. Early in the morning we have prepared ourselves for the journey and catched a bus not far from our home. When we arrived at the port, the ferry was already there and we had to hurry even we were running to get onboard. AlhamduliLlah, we manage to board that 8.35am ferry called Red-Funnel. Oh! I forgot to tell that I’m in one of the city in United Kingdom and during this soon to-be summer season, fajr time is early which was about 3.30am, in fact its so early than we used to in Malaysia. So at 6am the sun is already rising and daylight took over the night, but even though the sunshine was smiling on earth, the air and breeze is so cold.

Back to my journey, so we managed to board the ferry, but a while after that there is an announcement concerning a technical problem with the ferry and all the passengers should evacuated and board the next ferry. So much for the running, we smiled to each other. A friend went to the counter to change the tickets but they gave us tickets for speedboat called Red-jet which will depart in 15 minutes. MasyaAllah, how Allah changes from one thing to a better one, and all we have to do is to be patient. Well, if we go by ferry, its going to take one hour to arrive at the IOW, but with Red-jet, we could reach there in less than 30 minutes and furthermore the rate for the boat actually double the rate of the ferry but they didn’t charge us that extra because of their fault. So, we boarded the boat, took our seat and the real journey began and we were eager to be enthralled and fascinated.

IOW known as “Diamond in the Solent” with sparkling destination from the glittering blue of waters, historical theme parks and animal attraction; museums and castles; windmill and old steam railway station; and a lots others. When we arrived at IOW, our first destination is Alum Bay and The Needles. Along the ways we could see beautiful scenery with acres of field filled with yellow flowers and other wild flowers bloomed at the end of spring, groups of sheep on the field, countries and village houses. I couldn’t even took my eyes away. To see the splendid view, I am bewitched. SubhanaLlah, how beautiful His creations, but yet human still refused to be grateful.

Then we arrived at one of the six wonder in IOW, the Needles: Needle that you cannot thread. The Needles are those well-known chalk rocks or cliffs jutting out to sea at the most westerly point of the island, with the lighthouse on the furthest one. Did Needle Battery ring any bell? The Needles Battery (National Trust) was built into the cliffs to protect British from the treat of French invasion in 1862. It still has its original gun barrels and there are two tunnel cut into the chalk leading to the searchlight position. Alum Bay and the Needles Park offer attraction with glass blowing, sweet factories and we have taken the breathtaking chairlift down-to and up-from the beach to view the magnificent coloured cliffs. Feel like we’re on the top of the world. MasyaAllah its so beautiful and stunning to see from above. Wonder how Allah see us!.

At the beach we marveled at Alum Bay’s multi-coloured sand cliffs and afterwards, we took a boat trip to get a really dramatic view of the cliffs and the Needles. The wind was blowing but the weather was nice, AlhamduliLlah our trip went well. The boat keeper told the history of the Needles and shows the tunnels that lead to the utmost lighthouse. Hence, we’ve been busy capturing pictures of the historical place as well as our photographs.

Afterward, we took the chairlift back to Alum Bay where we have our lunch and rest for a while by mingling around the funfair; played some games and visited the souvenir and Glass shop. Next, our destination is to the Godshill to discover the secret garden of Isle of Wight. I will enlighten you about the place later on, maybe... :).

~WHITE~